Napoleonville native has century of memories

Published: Monday, August 19, 2013 at 10:51 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, August 19, 2013 at 10:51 a.m.

Odile Clark Washington’s steel blue eyes have seen more than 100 years of history.

Washington was born in Napoleonville in 1909, the same year the first short-wave radio transmission was made.

“My mother died when I was very young. And my daddy didn’t marry right away,” Washington said. “I was small, but I kept house.”

From then on out, the kitchen became her domain. She cooked and helped raise her five younger brothers and sisters.

She met her husband, Lonnie, in Napoleonville. He loved her cooking so much he decided to open a restaurant for her.

And so they moved to New Orleans in the Roaring ‘20s and opened the historic Starlight Restaurant and Hotel in Gert Town. She ran the restaurant for more than 60 years.

Her restaurant became a mecca for musicians and celebrities.

Musical greats — such as the likes of B.B. King, Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Ike and Tina Turner — all ate at the Starlight.

“Smiling Louis, you would see him in there almost weekly,” said Louis Clark, Washington’s brother.

“What these artists would do is they would play together,” Clark said. “If B.B. King would’ve come in and he wanted to play guitar, and if Ray Charles came in and he wanted to play the piano, you might see B.B. King and Ray Charles in the same band.”

But it wasn’t all fun and games for Washington, who now lives at Belle Vie Living Center in Gretna. She operated her restaurant through many epochs of American history.

“The Great Depression was hard. You know what I used to do for Thanksgiving? I would cook three turkeys,” Washington said. “One of the girls that worked for me would bring all of the old people in the neighborhood a Thanksgiving dinner.”

Washington didn’t just feed the elderly. Many Xavier University students were grateful for her cooking as well.

“I used to feed all the boys from Xavier,” Washington said. “They would come over when they’d have a football game, and they’d bring their girlfriends.”

Many times they would have no money, though. The boys would come earlier in the night and ask Washington if she would let them pay her when their allowances came in the mail.

“Sometimes they paid me and sometimes they didn’t.”

But they found a way to repay her. Many of them were from Chicago.

“One year I went to Chicago on my vacation, and one of the girls on the train with me told one of the boys’ mother that I was up there,” Washington said.

She was staying at a club home, something akin to the YWCA. Every day, one of the young men would pick her up and take her to dinner or sightseeing.

One day, the lady who ran the home approached her.

“She said, ‘Didn’t you tell me you were married?’ and I said, ‘Yes ma’am. I’m married, and I have a handsome husband,’” Washington said. “And she said, ‘I’ve never seen a woman that was married go out with so many young men!’”

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